About us

The finance and accounting expertise that PE-backed companies need most, in the months around a transaction and the period that follows, rarely lives inside the company. Portfolio Operating Group was founded by two CPA-trained operators who built careers in that gap, advising sponsors and sitting in the seat. Every engagement reflects that.

Our experience

Our combined experience spans more than 35 years in strategic finance and accounting leadership across private equity, public company subsidiaries, and multi-entity holding company structures. We've sat in the CFO seat through liquidity events ranging from minority recapitalizations to nine-figure strategic sales, built and rebuilt finance functions in industries as varied as healthcare technology, telecom services, industrial construction, and real estate, and carried companies through the first year of institutional ownership on both the sell side and the buy side of the transaction. We share public accounting roots and a conviction that the finance function should be built once and built right.

CPAs35+ years combinedLiquidity events from $20M to over $300MMulti-entity, multi-sectorSell-side and buy-side transaction experiencePublic accounting foundations
John Leese, CPA

John Leese, CPA

CO-FOUNDER • OPERATING CFO

Fifteen-plus years of finance leadership across PE-backed growth businesses, public-company subsidiaries, and multi-entity holding companies. Has led finance through multiple liquidity events, stood up first-year U.S. GAAP audits following acquisition rollups, and built finance operations spanning telecom services, industrial construction, real estate, and healthcare technology. Public accounting roots at EY Assurance. Recent focus on agentic AI and modern data infrastructure applied to the finance function, including completion of MIT's Applied Agentic AI for Organizational Transformation.

SELECTED EXPERIENCE

  • CFO, DM Gary Holding - finance oversight across 11 legal entities, refinance and restructuring
  • CFO, Wise Connect - ~$75-100M PE liquidity event, ~100% revenue growth, ~300% EBITDA growth
  • Controller, Bravas - first US GAAP audit post 15+ acquisitions, ASC 805 oversight
  • Controller, Caravan Health - $20M minority recapitalization (later acquired by CVS)
CPA (Active, CO)MIT - Applied Agentic AIEx-EY Assurance
Ryan Feldman, CPA (In-Active)

Ryan Feldman, CPA (In-Active)

CO-FOUNDER • OPERATING CFO

20+ years of operational expertise in finance, accounting, legal, tax, product management, and M&A activities for PE-backed organizations. Has assisted or led more than a dozen M&A engagements, including acting as the CFO and sell-side banker for a nine-figure exit to a public entity. Extensive experience in managing business consolidations, restructurings, ERP implementations, and audits in a fast-paced PE-backed environment.

SELECTED EXPERIENCE

  • CFO and CIO, Caravan Health - scaled operating company through Series A capital raise and ultimate sale to a public company (Signify Health), assisted in consolidated sale to CVS
  • PE consulting - managed post-close back-office consolidation of two portfolio companies
  • Led development and product management for proprietary healthcare analytic software build
  • Controller, T-System (PE Owned) - three acquisitions and consolidations and one divestiture
CPA (In-Active, MO)Buy and Sell-Side OperatorExtensive PE DiligenceProduct Development

We're based in the Kansas City area and we work with clients wherever the deals are. Whether we're engaged by a sponsor, a bank, or a management team directly, the work and the standard are the same.